redemption is a lot better than retribution

Elite Paris Fantastic Primer Make Up Base, Make Me Line Painting Shadow Cream by Nature Republic, Garden Secret Rouge Gloss by Nature Republic, Rimmel London Lasting Finish Lipstick in 006 Pink Blush, Rimmel London Lasting Finish Lipstick in 276 Kasbah, Mentholatum in 01 Vintage Pink

Overall (truth be told), I am quite happy with the makeup purchases that I got this couple of weeks. I've been wanting too many, but manage to restrain myself. I was very excited to get the Rimmel lipsticks as they are my fave. I have two others which I also like (070 Airy Fairy and 010 Dizzy) I've worn Airy Fairy a lot and it has been one of the two favorite lipsticks of mine for the year 2010. I've bought Pink Blush because I've gotten their Vinyl lipgloss in similar color not too long ago, somewhere during exams. I'm not big on pink lips but I guess to have one in the collection is necessary, especially when I'm doing looks. I bought Kasbah because I loved brownish lipsticks, as compared to nudes. Kasbah has a strong brown undertone to it and just a slight tinge of reddish finish on the lips if worn in buildable steps. The rouge lipgloss I bought because the packaging reminded me of the Stila lipglaze;

I love the consistency of the lipgloss. It is very opaque and could be worn on its own. Its a little bit sticky though, but not too much that disgust me. Only difference is, the Nature Republic one doesn't come with a brush end like Stila which I think is a miss because having a brush applicator would be more convenient because it will smooth the color more evenly on the lips.

I saw the Mentholatum new lipbalm range and I have always been a fan of their lips-changing-pinks lipbalms since school. I've been a religious user of their old case, the lip ice that change colors (the one Lisa Surihani is sporting on ads nowadays). So I saw they came out with a new range, sleek in black, and comes in four shades. The shade that I got is the lightest, and I like the name. It really does make your lips change into pink just like the old one has and in my opinion, the new ones now are more chic and sophisticated looking. The packaging and the weight of the product itself is lipstick-like eventhough it is a lipbalm. This is really something worth trying, if you're not so much of a lipstick person but still wants a tinge of color on the lips. I used this almost everyday and because it is a lipbalm, I can use it on a regular daily basis as well whenever I feel my lips are a bit dry.

From left; Vintage Pink, Pink Blush, Kasbah, Rouge Gloss (it just occurs to me that I don't know the name of the lipgloss..and couldn't, because it's all in Korean language!)

The other two products that I bought are a makeup primer and a shadow cream. I am loving cream eyeshadow at the moment that the first thing that I look at in the lines on beauty counters now is that if they have cream eyeshadows. And not many of them had it. Elianto has one a long time ago, which crease like mad. That's the thing with cream eyeshadow; they tend to crease on your lids and make your eyes look all smudgy. But the one I'm using currently which is the Touch! Liner by Etude House is a thumbs up. I've been using it everyday ever since I bought it and it has made me eager to wear eye color ever since. It doesn't smudge on your lids and it gives out a nice color base to your eyes. This one from Nature Republic I haven't used yet, but am looking forward to once I get tired of my Etude House one.

As for the primer, I've been in search of a good gel based primer for the longest time and I think I have found one that I like over here. It is not yet THE ONE because I am keen to try a lot more just to see what's best out there. But I definitely like this one at the moment and for that, I think I'm going to dedicate a different post just to talk about make up base and face primer, starring the Elite Paris Fantastic Primer.

That's all folks! I can't wait to end my attachment period, I'm making the most of the last two days now, wish me luck in your doas. And stay safe =)

what do thy eye see?

This is the face makeup routine for meh.

I have waited a long time to make this post because, although I would have love to, I felt like it was unnecessary to make one as I'm sure many of you out there would already know how to. However, unnecessary aside, I still want to do it because different people have different ways of applying their bases. Some would skip a lot of steps and some would go the extra mile. For me, it all depends on what you prefer and how much time you actually have in hand. If, lets say, you only have about 5 minutes, a slap of bb cream on the face would be just fine and gets you ready to hit the road. Anyways, I hope you enjoy my way of doing the face base routine and find it somewhat beneficial :)

Before : Ze bare face.

First of, I applied my moisturizer. The one I'm using is the Clinique Dramatically Different Moisturizing Lotion. I alternate this with my Neutrogena one. I liked both, and both have given my dry face the slap of moisture needed before my makeup.

Next, I used a makeup base/primer. This is so my foundation and the rest of my makeup would stay on longer on the face and won't melt away. It would also help to matify the face, which is an additional bonus for those with oily skin if you want to avoid cakey-ness on the face when applying makeup and to lessen up the oil. It also evens out the skin color. Not all people use primer and to be completely honest, not all people have to. As said earlier, it depends on your preference and for me, it has become my optional pleasure. The one I'm using is Givenchy Base de teint Number #6. This one has SPF 15 in it.

After applying moisturizer and the primer, the face is a lot more even-tone. Notice that the redness on my nose and some of my face area has gone as well. Then (because I totally forgot, and this you should do earlier, yikes!), I applied lipbalm on the lips, to give the lips the base and moisture before applying lipstick. I would suggest apply one slick of it, smack the lips together and get a tissue to wipe of the excessive moisture that the lipbalm is giving. Of course, this would depend on the type of lipbalm that you're using. I used the Nivea Essential Care, and this one has way too many moisture in it that I need to wipe them off or else, because of the extra moisture, my lips won't be able to pull of colors very well from the lipstick that I'll be using. So, just a tiny bit of lipbalm would be enough.

I'm sorry, I don't know why out of the sudden, the lighting has changed. But anyways, back to the face routine. Now, after all the steps above, I applied my foundation. Only this time, I won't be using foundations but this Skin 79 Super + Beblesh Balm Triple Functions. Simply put, this is a BB Cream. And just see how I was trying to prove a point here with this BB Cream...let us all admire the mess that I made to my face with this for a while :D
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Okay, seriously. I DON'T need this much amount of product on the face ever, because I've already applied my primer that has pretty much covered the uneveness of my skin tone, the redness etc etc. This is another benefit of using a primer, that a little of it goes a long way in your daily makeup routine. I wiped off the exceess of the BB Cream on my face so that it won't look too much and too heavy.

The face so far

After that, I applied my concealer to my undereye circle and between my nose, because thats the spot where I get the most blemishes. Just applied a dab on each eye in the inner corner and on either side of the nose.

Under eye area is very sensitive. If you keep on pulling and tugging at your eye area, you would get wrinkles very easily. So what I do is, I take my ring finger and gently dab it across my eyes a few time. Don't pull or blend it or do anything too hard. Moreover, if you blend your concealer in, it wouldn't stay put on the blemish or dark circles that you want to cover. If you blend it like a foundation, it'll sink in rather than cover up your dark circles and blemishes. The concealer that I'm using is the Soup & Glory Trick and Treatment Concealer.

The same thing with either side of the nose

Then, base for the eye (before applying eyeshadows, eyeliner and mascara), I used an eye primer as well. The one I'm using is the Etude House Proof 10 Eye Primer. This helps to keep your eyemakeup stays on longer on the eyes as opposed to not using an eye primer. It also hepls to even out the color of the eyelid, to cover up obvious veins and to some point with eye primer (though not with this particular product, unfortunately), it helps to enhance the color of the eyeshadows.

After all is done, lastly, I set all my base with a powder. Again, this is optional. If you want a nice, glowy face, leave it at that and don't set it with a powder. If you want a matte face, go ahead and set it with powder. I always used powder because I like matte finish, and to me personally, glowy and dewy finish would get oily as the hours go by. I used the Maybelline Clear Smooth BB Silk Shine Free 2 Way Cake Powder in No#2 Nude Beige. Yes, it's a powder foundation. I used a powder foundation for setting my foundation because I like the extra coverage. My own preference again, but you could always use a normal loose powder to set the face.

That's all. Hugs and Kisses. Bai Semua :)

how is that hard for a first time?

True fact is, I have never been keen to try on BB Creams eventhough I know that they are popular in Korea and Japan and are getting popular around here as well. I was just never moved, because my initial thought was that BB Cream won't give full coverage that a foundation gives. I feared that its functions of a whitening product, UV protecting product as well as help to cure blemish and improves skin condition might take off the focus of it as a foundation as well. And you know how I like my foundation to be full coverage, and I wasn't willing to spend my money on something which does not have it. I figured that I could get a better sunscreen, better acne spot treatment for my face that wouldn't require it to be a part of a foundation.


Not, until I hear about the reviews on the Skin 79 Super + Beblesh Balm Triple Functions. Yes, that was kind of mouthful to say, isn't it? So I read that this was a very famous product for a BB Cream (it can either be blemish balm or beblesh balm, like this one here). The reviews were promising, and I like how it applies and for the first time, didn't mind the foundation consisting of the triple functions of a BB Cream. But I figured, this stuff would not be sold in Malaysia. It would just never arrive here, it just wouldn't. But then, when I found it in a local Watsons store in One Utama, I was starstrucked.

They didn't have it in stock, fine. I was prepared for that answer. I waited in vain and ranted all about the BB Cream on twitter. I went to another Watsons store, they didn't have it as well. The lady tried to make me buy another brand but I was determined to get this one. A week later, I went back to the usual Watsons store in One Utama and there they were, seven bottles all together on the rack. I bought mine, happily, and went home.

Wow, this is some story, is it?

Case #1: The uber cute packaging. Vey kawaii-ish.

As you can see, the consistency of this is really quite thick.

What happened when it is roughly blended in. You can see that it gives my desired effect of full coverage foundation in spite of it being a triple functioning product, with UV protecting SPF25 PA ++, anti wrinkles and whitening product.

When all have been blended in nicely. See the glowy effect it gives? It looked very natural on the face, the kind you see every korean artists were sporting and wonder aloud where they got their glow from. And though it gives full coverage foundation, it also feels lightweight on the face you wouldn't feel cakey at all. By far, this is not a disappointing product for a BB Cream. I like it in everyway, and glad that it is my first. It costs me an understandable amount of RM69.00

Oh by the way, did I mention that on the very next day, there was only one product left on the rack at the One Utama Watsons Store?

p/s: I have to say that this product only comes in one shade, which is this color. If you are slightly darker or much fairer, you would want to find a BB Cream that has some color ranges.

don't fear the unknown in your stash

I could say that for the past one year, I have been a loyal user of Revlon Colorstay foundation and also the Revlon Photoready foundation. I have liked them both for different reasons that gave me satisfying results in the end. I used the Photoready for an everyday basis, when I feel like I'm in the game of a busy day ahead and wouldn't have to worry about my makeup stays on whereas the Colorstay has given me full coverage that I like whenever I were to attend events or important going-outs with my friends, and I wanted to have the full eye and face makeup on. The consistency of Colorstay is thick enough that for me, it could hide my stubborn blemishes.

But quite a while ago, and I think sometime during the examination week, I have changed my regular use of both of the foundations to one that I had in my stash but never really got around using it. Its the Color Basical Whitestay UV Mousse Foundation


Its a mousse foundation that I was too skeptical to try on because of my dry skin (for fear of it getting streaky on my face) but was too excited to pass on. So try I did, and for the rest of my examination period, I have been loyal to this product. You could say that the exams this time around really do change my routine on makeup, as I've mentioned a lot of new products that I've gotten during the examination week. I've been dying to write a review on this one as it was too good to pass.


This product color is really true to my skin color, its just that in the picture, I have to use the flash setting so that you can differentiate the color. It goes on smooth and soft, and doesn't rest between the fine lines of my dry skin either, which is what I wanted. This is so easy to work with that even a little use of it goes a long way, and I find that I don't need to use a setting powder to set my foundation after wards as it doesn't seem to 'melt' on my face eventhough it does give a glowy effect. I think that that's the benefit of using a mousse foundation. It gives you a nice glow to the face, dewy as some would say, without it being overpowering or cakey. And to think that I was on the examination's upbeat, it did save me a lot of time in the morning. It stays on pretty much the same as Colorstay would stay on my face, perhaps even better.

Now I don't really know where one could get this, frankly speaking, though Color Basical is a Malaysian product, I haven't actually seen it sold quite often anywhere. I got mine in my hometown, at a local supermarket Billion. And there aren't any Billions in the big city, so this would be quite the look out. However, I would like to stress the point that, if you have dry skin like I do (meaning you don't have the shine on the face, small pores and less breakouts), you would want to keep and eye on mousse products like this. I know that Maybelline had discontinued their mousse foundation line (which was the bom diggity), but there are some options out there. I know Rimmel made mousse foundation...although I'm keen on trying their new line of foundation that features Zoey Deschannel...okay, I'm rambling.